Director general of Danish Energy Agency visits Turkey to discuss bilateral energy cooperation

Turkey’s high energy import dependency and renewable energy ambitions combine to establish a promising market for Danish renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. The Danish Ministry of Climate-, Energy and Building and the Danish Energy Agency (DEA), is now entering into cooperation with the Turkish government to support a low carbon emission transition, sustainable urban development, and a greener energy mix.

Danish visits with positive outcomes
The Danish minister of Climate, Energy and Building, Mr. Rasmus Helveg Petersen, had a fruitful and positive visit to Istanbul in November, 2014. The purpose of the visit was to speak at a conference on wind energy organized by the Turkish wind industry (TÜREB) and visit wind farms built by Danish Vestas and Siemens Wind. In January 2015, a delegation from the Danish Energy Agency conducted a fact-finding mission to Istanbul and Ankara to gather information for upcoming strategic sector cooperation on energy and climate issues. In March, Mr. Morten Bæk, Director General of Danish Energy Agency, met with Director General Murat Karapinar from the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to discuss the possibilities of a strengthened and accelerated government to government cooperation within the energy sector, in the near future. In May, the Danish Energy Agency participated in a Danish delegation headed by the Danish Board of District Heating (DBDH). The delegation conducted a combined promotion and fact-finding mission on district heating and cooling in Izmir and at the ICCI fair in Istanbul.

Assisting Turkey in implementation of renewable energy solutions
Today, Turkey is the IEA country with the greatest, projected medium to long-term increase in energy demand. With a growing economy, a young and increasingly urbanized population, it is a significant challenge to secure the necessary energy supply at a cost-competitive price.

Currently, Turkey is highly dependent on domestic coal production and vast amounts of imported gas. But there is a considerable potential for development and implementation of renewable energy initiatives and energy efficiency measures, areas in which DEA can offer its support. In this regard, Denmark will expand its embassy staff in Ankara to include a Growth Counsellor, focusing on government-to-government cooperation on Energy, Environment, Research and Innovation.

Wind opportunities
International analysts consider Turkey one of the most interesting markets for new wind projects in Europe. Turkey’s rich wind resources and ambitious policy goals create a significant potential for successful expansion of this sector over the next decade or more.

The Turkish government has installed an average of 500MW new wind power annually in recent years and has settled upon plans to increase the share of energy from renewable energy with an additional 20,000 MW over the next decade. Furthermore, Turkey underlines its green energy ambitions by setting a goal to raise the current share of renewable energy from 10% to 30% by 2023.

Energy efficiency and district energy
Denmark is also supporting the Turkish governments’ efforts to improve energy efficiency standards in buildings and industry, and to develop Turkey’s district energy potential.

In the western part of Turkey, geothermal resources are available and to a large extent already in use. From the latest fact-finding mission it is however clear that district energy could play a larger role if integrated in the national building codes and guidelines for development of urban areas. Turkey’s rapid development of urban residential buildings often result in short lifecycles and poor energy efficiency performance, both of which could be enhanced through better standards for materials and integration of district energy in new buildings.

The Danish Ministry of Climate-, Energy and Building is presently mapping which areas will be relevant for Danish export activities. Advances on low carbon energy transition, improved energy efficiency standards in buildings and industry and increased use of district energy would reduce Turkey’s overall energy demand, strengthen its economic competitiveness and secure a sustainable, low-carbon transition in the coming decades.

Source: State of Green